Automatic winding gear for watches



July 3, 1956 E. vAUcHER 2,752,751

AUTOMATIC WINDING GEAR FOR WATCHES Filed July 8, 1953 i f i .9

United States Patent O 2,752,751 AUTOMATIC WINDING GEAR FOR WATCHES Eric Vaucher, Biel, Switzerland Application .iuly 8, 1953, Serial No. 366,763 Claims priority, application Switzerland July 12, 1952 2 Claims. (Cl. Sti-82E The invention under consideration relates to an automatic winding gear for a watch by which the oscillating mass, that oscillates, urges the wheels of the winding gear to revolve only in the direction of winding.

With the automatic winding gear, in accordance with the invention, this is accomplished in that two winding wheels, that mesh with each other, are urged to oscillate by an oscillatory mass rigidly fixed to one of these winding wheels and is free to oscillate on the axis of the same, and in that two locking pinions, rotatably arranged on their axles, are allowed to mesh with a gear wheel and besides that each with a corresponding revolving catch, the latter, eccentrically arranged on the winding wheels, alternatively co-operating with the locking pinions as a locking device as the winding wheels oscillate.

The revolving catches that mesh with the locking pinions are preferably given the shape of gear wheels, the teeth of which are concave at one face, so that as the gear wheels turn in one direction, the concave faces of the teeth of the locking pinions will mesh with the teeth of the gears, thus resulting in a displacement of the normal meshing of the gears, and, as a consequence thereof, in a butting of the tip of the tooth of the locking pinion against the facing face of the meshing tooth of the revolving catch, and thus in a locking.

The drawing represents the invention by way of example and shows in:

Fig. 1 an assembled section through the winding gear, following the line A1-A-B1*B-C-D of Fig. 2,

Fig. 2 a schematic top view on the winding gear without an oscillatory mass,

Fig. 3 the wheels of a locking gear in a normal meshing position and revolving in the direction at which idling takes place, and

Fig. 4 the wheels of a locking gear in the displaced meshing position and revolving in the direction of locking.

The represented sample of embodiment of the automatic winding gear includes an oscillating mass 1 rotaable about a fixed axis A and, rigidly fixed to its hub, a winding gear 2. The latter meshes with a further winding gear 3, rotatable about axis B. To the winding gear 2, at some distance from its axis A, an axle stud A1 is fixed, on which a revolving catch 4 is free to rotate around the axis of the winding gear 2 also as the latter rotates. Likewise the winding gear 3 is tted with a revolving catch 5 on a stud B1 fixed at some distance from axis B, so that this catch also revolves around the axis of the winding gear 3 as the latter rotates. On the axle hub of the oscillatory mass 1 a locking pinion 6 is rotatably arranged meshing with the revolving catch 4. Likewise a locking pinion 7 is rotatably arranged on the shaft having axis B and turnably carrying the Winding gear 3, pinion 7 meshing with the revolving catch 5. Both locking pinions 6 and 7 further mesh with a gear wheel 8, to which a transmitting gear wheel 9 is coaxially fixed. The latter transmits its revolution to a further gear wheel 10, rotatably arranged on the axis D of the winding device.

As may be seen from Figs. 2-4, the faces of the teeth of the revolving catches 4 and 5 respectively are given an unsymmetrical shape in that on one side of the teeth the faces 11 are concave and the tips of the teeth flattened at 12. By such concave faces 11 displacing of the normal meshing of the corresponding teeth with their mates 6, 7 respectively becomes possible.

When the pinions 6, 7 revolve in the direction of the arrow of Fig. 3, normal mutual rolling of the convex faces of the teeth of the wheels 4 and 5 takes place at normal meshing. Should, however, the pinions 6, 7 respectively revolve in direction of the arrow of Fig. 4, meshing of the gears will be displaced by the play due to the concavity of the faces 11, whereby the teeth of the pinions 6, 7 respectively roll on the concave faces 11. With such a displaced meshing, locking takes place as the flattened tips 12 of the teeth of the revolving catches 4 and 5 on meshing abut against the convex faces of the teeth of the pinions 6 and 7 respectively.

When the winding gear 2 revolves in the direction of the full black arrow of Fig. 2, the revolving catch 4 acts as a satellite of the pinion 6 and freely revolves around this without turning it. The gear 2 turns the gear 3 in accordance with the full black arrow. The revolving catch 5 at lirst rolls on the teeth of the pinion 7 until locking takes place due to the concavity of the faces of the teeth of the revolving catches, as represented by Fig. 4, thus urging the pinion 7 to rotate together with the winding gear 3. The pinion 7 in its turn turns the gear wheel 8 which transmits the motion by means of the intermediate pinion 9.

Should the gear 2 be urged in the direction of the black-white arrow the following will happen: The revolving catch 4, while revolving in opposite direction to the full black arrow, will roll on the pinion 6 only until locking takes place, as shown by Fig. 4, when the pinion 6 will be urged by the revolving catch 4 to rotate in the direction the wheel 2 is revolving. Then the pinion 6 turns the gear wheel 8 and, by means of the transmitting pinion 9, the wheel 10. During this time the winding wheel 3 rotates in the direction of the black-white arrow and the revolving catch 5, now having become a satellite of the pinion 7, will be urged to freely roll on the pinion 7, without, however, urging the latter to turn.

By means of the described system of double revolving catches, with which, as soon as one of the revolving catches, acting as a satellite, rolls on the locking pinion without urging it to revolve, the other revolving catch gets in a locking position dragging with it the locking pinion, or vice-versa when the direction of rotation is reversed, it will be possible to rotate the wheel 8 always in the same direction, irrespective of the direction in which the oscillatory mass is rocking.

What I claim is:

1. An automatic winding gear for watches with an oscillatory mass, comprising, in combination, two winding gears meshing with each other, an oscillatory mass rigidly fixed to one of the winding gears for rotation with the same around the axis thereof, two locking pinions supported for rotation about their axes, respectively, a gear wheel meshing with said locking pinions and a pair of rotating catches respectively meshing with said locking pinions, said catches being journaled on said winding gears at a distance from the axes of the winding gears, respectively, and alternatively acting as locking devices together with the locking pinions as the winding wheels oscillate.

2. An automatic winding gear according to claim l, characterized in that the rotating catches that mesh with the locking pinions are given the shape of gear wheels, the teeth of which have at one side a concave face.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 602,580 Haskins et al. Apr. 19, 1898 FOREIGN PATENTS 170,938 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1934 746,608 France Mar. 14, 1933 359,083 Germany Sept. 21, 1922 

